Bubbles and Trouble
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Apparently, Mira likes bubbles. And yelling at Laxus (but he already knew that one). - One-shot.


Bubbles and Trouble

The water was warm enough to scald a normal person, but it only soothed Laxus as he sank lower into it. It felt so good to be home after so long, if not but to relive his aching muscles. The water was still steaming slightly, which also did wonders for his nose. He hadn't felt particularly well as of late.

"Thought I heard you come in," Laxus grumbled slightly without opening his eyes. "But didn't want to call out to you, when you didn't call out to me."

She just stood in his bathroom, looking rather annoyed. "How long have you been in town, Laxus?"

"Since last night."

"You could tell me, Laxus, when you get home. I-"

Grunt. "How'd you even find out?"

"Freed came by the guild about an hour ago," she told him, crossing her arms. "It took me awhile to find Lisanna so she could cover for me and I could get over here."

"Yeah, well-"

"I mean, sheesh, Laxus, it's not like it would have been hard to come by the guild. Really? You always do."

"I-"

"But then Freed told me something."

His eyes opened as he sunk lower into the water. "Mira-"

"You should have told me that you were hurt, Laxus." Her voice lost some of it's anger then. "What did you think? That you could hide it from me?"

"I'm not hurt," he told her with a frown. "I just got a little cut up and-"

"What were you waiting for then? Did you think by tomorrow the cuts would be all healed? I mean, honestly?"

"Mirajane-"

"Is there something else that would keep you from coming to me?" She was staring him down then, but he refused to look at her. "Laxus?"

"What else could possibly-"

"Do you not want me here, Laxus?"

"Mira-"

"Because-"

"Just get in the damn water." He finally did look at her, winking with his scarred eye. "Maybe it'll help you relax some."

She huffed then and for a few seconds, he thought that he had really screwed up. Then, slowly, she did move to undress, making sure to fold up her dress and set it on the sink so it didn't get dirty. Laxus didn't mind, as that only gave him more of a chance to inspect her.

"What's wrong?" he asked when she hesitated at the last second, just standing there, staring at the water. "Mira?"

"Laxus, I'm not going to be…electrocuted or something, right?"

"Huh?"

She gestured to him before glancing back at the water. "You do have a lacrima inside you. I just thought-"

"Get in, Mira." He made a face at her. "Do you honestly think I would ever let you get hurt?"

She blushed then before slowly climbing into the large tub, settling for a position across from him. This annoyed Laxus, even when she ran one of her legs against his own.

"I kinda meant over here," he told her. "With me?"

"I'm fine over here," she told him hotly. "Thanks."

He had never really thought about it before, but that was the first time that they had actually bathed together. Not even showered together. Huh. That seemed like a standard thing they would have done by that point.

"You really mad at me, Mira?" He laid his head over the side of the tub, sighing slightly. "'cause now that you know that I'm here, how does dinner sound? Eh? After this?"

"I have to get back to work, Laxus."

"Yeah, work. Sure." Snorting, he shut his eyes once more. "You know that you aren't going nowhere. Except to dinner, maybe. I have to think about it, now that you're trying to play all tough with me."

She rolled her eyes before looking around at the sides of the tub. "Don't you have any, you know, bubbles?"

That made him peek his eyes open. "You do know who you're with, right? 'cause there ain't no way that I would ever have-"

"Here they are." She grabbed the bottle from in between some shampoo bottles. All her shampoo bottles, he might add. They might never bathe together, but she took enough bathes at his place to apparently bring in her army of hair products. Ugh. The only thing that compared in size to it was all of Erza's armor and costumes that she carried around.

"What? Mira, why do you have bubbles over here?"

"For when I want to take a bubble bath, silly." Then she poured some of the liquid into the tub with them. "There! Perfect."

"Mira," he complained as she began giggling some more. "Did you ever think that I didn't want bubbles in the bathwater?"

"Yes," she said. "But I didn't care. Kind of like how you thought of me when you got to town no doubt, worried about you, but you didn't think to come see me."

"Ugh. Are you going to keep harping on that?" He shook his head. "Don't take it personally, Mira, but sometimes I need to be alone, huh?"

"You could have at least come by the guild and told me that, Laxus. I mean, honestly, sometimes you're just so inconsiderate."

"Yeah, well, what did you think you were getting, huh? I've never shown you any other thing, but inconsideration. So before you start berating me for it, maybe you should blame yourself some."

She huffed. "You're lucky that there're bubbles, or else I'd have left by now."

"To go back to what? Work?" He shifted in the water slightly going completely underwater, just long enough to get his hair wet. When he came back up, he winked at her again. "Besides, you know that you're being far more entertained here than you ever would be there."

She only watched, not amused in the slightest. "You know that it's going to take more than being charming to make this up to me. You're in trouble, after all."

"Charmin', huh?" Snort. Reaching over, he grabbed his shampoo bottle, having to set it on the other side of the tub from Mira's stuff,as not to mix it up with another. There was no way that he ever wanted to show up to the guild smelling like a chick. "I ain't ever tried to be that, so I don't-"

"What are you going to do, Laxus?"

"Do?" He squirted out some gel into his palm before glancing over at her. "What do you mean?"

"To make this up to me," she clarified.

"What? Are you that clingy, Mira, that I can't even be alone for a day without-"

"_What are you going to do_?"

"Man, you're lucky, Mira, that I like you so much."

"I'm waiting."

"If you weren't naked right now, I'd probably kick you out."

"Laxus-"

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, grumbling slightly then. She only leaned back some, resting against her end of the tub. Her damn bubbles were hiding anything of interest to him. "Mira?"

She was staring at him then, her eyes slowly coming to focus on his tattoo above his guild marking. Then her eyes met his and she seemed perky again.

"I want you to get a tattoo of my name."

'What?"

"Huge. Big enough for everyone to see." She patted her lips then. "Mmmm…in pink letters!"

"Mira-"

"There's nothing else you could possible do-"

"You like puppies?" He started to lather his hair. "I'll get you a puppy."

"No, Laxus, I don't want a puppy."

"You sure?" He shrugged slightly. "Seemed like that'd be something you'd be into."

"Well, yes, Laxus, having a puppy would be fun, but no, it's not going to get you out of trouble."

"Well, since your request ain't happening and since my suggestion ain't gonna work, I guess were at an impasse." He raised an eyebrow. "You wanna just fuck and call it even?"

"You are so close to-"

"Tell you what," he began again. "I'll take you out to dinner, huh? And then buy you something. Whatever you want. Even a puppy."

She made a face. "Do you want a pet or something, Laxus?"

"Nah. I see the way that cat is with Natsu and it kills my drive to ever care for a living thing."

That made her blink slightly. "You do know that Happy's not a pet, right?"

"What would make him different from another animal? 'cause he can talk and shit?" Snort. "That just makes him even more annoying."

She sighed then, just watching him. "Anything I want, huh?"

"Sure. You just say it and it's yours."

"Doesn't sound that different from most our shopping trips."

"Yeah, but this one's, like, a get out of trouble gift. So it can be super expensive if you want."

"Really?"

He knew she'd end up just wanting a dress or something and it would hardly cost him any jewels. At most 20, 000. She never did spend much even though he had made it pretty clear in the past that he'd just about buy her anything.

_Anything_.

Except for a pink tattoo on his chest of her name. That was totally off the table.

"Of course," he told her before nodding her over, holding his hands out. "Now come over here so I can get your hair too, huh?"

In the end, they both ended up extremely clean…before getting dirty again the second they were out of the tub. But a quick shower freshened them up enough to head out. Mira told Laxus though that before they went anywhere, she wanted to stop by the guildhall to ask Lisanna if she would stay for the remainder of the night in her place.

"It's cool," he assured her as they left his place. "I need to have a few words with Freed about some stuff anyways."

She only patted his side. "It's your fault you didn't tell me, Laxus. Remember that."

That only got a grunt, but she did smile at it.

When they got the guildhall, Mira immediately headed over to speak with her sister as well as her brother, who apparently had been looking for her. Steering clear of that, Laxus took to searching out Freed. Before he could find him though, he was jumped on from behind.

"Ha! Got you, Laxus!" It was Natsu, who immediately raised a fist to hit him, still clutching onto the other guy's back. "Now you have to fight me!"

Grunting, Laxus merely threw him off. Mirajane had made it very clear to Laxus that, _yes_, they were friends with Team Natsu and _no_, he could not fight with them. He neglected to point out that she and Erza still had quite the competitive attitude towards each other at times, figuring it would only get him nowhere.

"Gah!" Natsu shook his head as he hit the floor before bouncing back up. "Don't think that you're going to get away from me, Laxus!"

"Bug off, loser." He threw the guy away when he ran at him again. "I mean it."

"No fair!" Natsu rubbed his head, which he landed on once more. "And hey, Laxus, how come you smell like a girl?"

That made him stop in his tracks. Raising his arm, he smelt it as subtly as possible. He did. He smelled like…some sort of fruity fragrance. Like a woman. And not in the good, just had a woman all over you, kinda way.

It only took a moment him a moment to realize what had happened.

"Mira." He headed over to the bar, forgetting all about Freed. She was leaning against the bar, talking to Lisanna when he got to her. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he pulled her back slightly, making her frown.

"Laxus, what-"

"Mirajane," he growled. "You and your damn bubbles-"

"Oh, wow, Laxus." Lisanna giggled as she stared at the two of them. "You smell really good."

Elfman, who was on Mira's other side, only shook his head. "You sure don't smell manly though."

"We're going home," he told Mira, pulling on her some more. "Now."

She only took to pouting though. Now that she was in trouble, she knew that she wasn't getting that new dress or necklace. Oh, no, now that they were both even, they were going to have to…fuck as he put it.

"No fair, Laxus. You know that you liked the bubbles too."

"I'm getting rid of every damn bottle you have in my bathroom," he threatened as they left the guild. "I swear, Mira, I-"

"See? This is why we can't have a puppy."

He blinked. Then he made a face down at her. Although, really, she did have a point.

"Besides, Laxus, I think you smell fine."

Grunt.

"Really. I think you smell…sweet."

Grunt.

"Like fruit! Or-"

"Mira."

"Hmmm?"

He finally let go of her arm, certain that she was going to follow him back to his apartment then. "Did you ever think that I didn't want to smell like fruit?"

"Yes, Laxus, I did," she told him then with a serious tone. "But then I decided I didn't care. Kinda like how you thought of me when you got back into-"

"We are not starting this again."

She bounced slightly as she followed him down the street. "Maybe you'll think twice about not telling me where you are next time."

He made a face. Is that what being in a relationship was? Constantly having to let the other know what you're doing? 'cause if so, his relationship was surely sinking. Fast. Because-

"Do we really have to go back home now, Laxus?" Mira was leaning up into him then, quickly moving to hold one of his hands before interlacing their fingers. "Because I really did want to go to dinner and shop some. Then we could go home after, maybe? Please?"

And suddenly his relationship was finding some way to bail the water out. Sighing, he leaned down to kiss her head.

"Fine," he grumbled before shaking his hand free of hers. "But knock it off with this holding hands business."

She just giggled, grasping his hand once more before he was able to get it out of reach. "You're so cute, Laxus."

Cute and charming? His woman was losing it.

"Now come on." She was the one pulling him along then. "I turn into a real monster when I get hungry."

He was pretty sure she was a real monster all the time. A demon. But…she was his demon, after all. And so much better than a puppy.


End file.
